news GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Once scheduled to expire at 7 tonight in and around Grand Forks, a winter storm warning for heavy snow and blowing was cut short by half a day.
The predicted snow storm added a couple of inches to Bemidji's pack, but that was about as far as the precipitation reached. Residents...
Bemidji, 56619

Bemidji Minnesota P.O. Box 455 56619

2012-08-06 12:35:21

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Once scheduled to expire at 7 tonight in and around Grand Forks, a winter storm warning for heavy snow and blowing was cut short by half a day.

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The predicted snow storm added a couple of inches to Bemidji's pack, but that was about as far as the precipitation reached. Residents of Turtle River north of Bemidji said they saw not a flake. However, parts of Hubbard County recorded about 12 inches of new snow.

At noon Wednesday in Grand Forks, the weather outside looked not at all frightful - an unexpected sight that didn't come that far from offering a far more wintery landscape.

Grand Forks received less than an inch of snow, while, not far away in southern Grand Forks County, Northwood had a public report of an estimated 13 inches of snow. A weather spotter at Mayville, N.D., in Traill County reported an estimated 19.5 inches of snow shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

There was "a sharp cut-off from significant snow to very little snow" roughly along U.S. Highway 2 between Devils Lake and Bemidji, the National Weather Service said.

While the winter storm warning was cut short for northeast North Dakota and a portion of northwest Minnesota at 7 a.m., the winter storm warning was to continue until 1 p.m. for the southern Red River Valley region, the weather service said. But conditions improved quickly enough that the warning was dropped by noon in the southern valley counties, too.

The early spring storm moved slowly east, with snowfall totals in a heavier band in Traill County and Norman County exceeding a foot in some places.

That's a big reason Interstate 29 remained closed between Grand Forks and Fargo Wednesday morning. It opened at noon, according to the state Department of Transportation's online road conditions report.

Most areas still in the winter storm warning Wednesday morning were expected to receive six to 12 inches of new snow from the storm, according to the weather service.

East winds that gusted to near 30 mph Wednesday morning weakened substantially by early the afternoon.

The National Weather Service in Grand Forks predicted mostly sunny weather today with a high near 25. Calm wind is expected to come from the east between at 4 and 7 mph. Tonight night is expected to be partly cloudy, with a low around 3 degrees and with east wind between 3 and 6 mph.

The Friday forecast is for partly sunny, with a high near 28, and east wind between 6 and 11 mph. Friday night is predicted as mostly cloudy, with a low around 4.